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How privacy-focused crypto projects can comply with EU's MiCA compliance regulation without compromising core anonymity.
Author: Chirag Sharma
The European Union introduced the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA Compliance) to bring clarity and structure to the growing digital asset landscape. Fully applicable since December 30, 2024, MiCA aims to regulate crypto-assets not previously covered by financial laws. Its goals are to protect investors, prevent market abuse, and build a unified regulatory framework across EU member states. For privacy-focused crypto projects, this regulation introduces both a challenge and an opportunity.
Privacy projects are built around a core principle: keeping user activity anonymous. This includes techniques like ring signatures, stealth addresses, and zero-knowledge proofs that obscure transaction details. While these technologies appeal to users concerned with surveillance and censorship, they also raise red flags for regulators. Anonymous financial activity, if left unchecked, creates pathways for illegal operations, from tax evasion to financing illicit trade.
MiCA attempts to bring such projects into a compliant framework. While the regulation does not outright ban privacy coins, it requires projects offering services in the EU to implement safeguards such as know-your-customer procedures, whitepaper disclosures, and anti-money laundering controls. Salvium, a privacy-oriented Layer 1 chain inspired by Monero, has responded with tailored features like refundable payments and an exchange mode. These features aim to meet MiCA’s compliance criteria without fully abandoning the project’s privacy roots.
For privacy-focused platforms, the impact of MiCA is direct. Without compliance, access to the EU’s large and increasingly regulated market becomes difficult, especially for listings on central exchanges and partnerships with custodial services. Compliance, on the other hand, offers long-term legitimacy. As of mid-2025, it is becoming clear that privacy projects can no longer afford to exist outside the bounds of policy, especially if they intend to reach a mainstream audience.
Cryptocurrencies have matured from fringe innovations into major financial instruments. But with this growth comes increased scrutiny. Privacy coins, which were once praised for their ability to provide user anonymity, now face complex questions about legality and regulatory fit. MiCA represents the EU’s attempt to answer these questions by offering a formal structure for crypto-assets, particularly in areas where past financial regulations did not apply.
One of MiCA compliance central goals is to reduce financial crime in crypto markets. Regulators worry that privacy features can mask unlawful activities such as money laundering and terrorism financing. While most privacy projects were not created with illicit intentions, their design makes it difficult to trace funds, investigate fraud, or ensure taxation compliance. For lawmakers, this makes privacy projects high-risk, regardless of their intended use case.
MiCA seeks to mitigate this through strict requirements. Crypto-asset service providers, or CASPs, must adhere to anti-money laundering rules, including the implementation of know-your-customer checks. Whitepapers are required for new token issuances, and these documents must clearly outline the technical setup, risks, and purpose of the token. Transparency becomes a legal obligation, not a suggestion. And while fully decentralized platforms like DAOs may fall outside the initial scope of MiCA, any interface or project that services EU users will still be held accountable.
This situation places privacy coins in a difficult spot. Compliance often means sacrificing certain degrees of anonymity, a key value proposition for these projects. However, without compliance, legal access to EU users and financial institutions becomes nearly impossible. This is why projects like Salvium are adapting. Rather than resisting regulation outright, they are creating new tools and workflows that preserve core privacy while enabling legal operation. These tools include exchange-facing systems that allow for payment reversibility, as well as user-level controls for transparency that can be toggled based on context.
MiCA does not intend to eliminate privacy, but it insists on accountability. Projects that find a middle ground—offering privacy-enhanced services within a regulated framework—stand to thrive in this new landscape. Those that do not adapt may find themselves increasingly pushed out of mainstream crypto adoption.
MiCA introduces a detailed set of compliance rules. For privacy-focused projects, these requirements often feel like they clash with the foundational principles of anonymity and decentralization. Yet within this tension lies a window for innovation. Adapting to MiCA does not have to mean abandoning privacy. It means being smarter about how it is implemented and disclosed.
The first major requirement is the whitepaper. Under MiCA, any project offering crypto-assets to EU residents must publish a whitepaper that explains the purpose of the project, its governance, how it works, and what risks it carries. For privacy projects, this means disclosing more technical and operational information than usual. Salvium addresses this by focusing on the mechanics of its privacy protocol, offering enough clarity for regulators without revealing sensitive implementation details that could undermine the technology.
CASPs, such as exchanges and wallet providers, must also meet strict criteria. They must have at least one director residing in the EU, maintain a local office, and implement both AML and CTF measures. For privacy projects, this typically involves partnering with or becoming a compliant service provider. Salvium, for example, includes a built-in refund system and exchange mode to make compliance easier for custodial platforms. This approach allows incoming payments to be frozen, reviewed, and returned if needed, giving exchanges the confidence to list Salvium without violating MiCA rules.
Transparency and traceability remain the most difficult areas. Most privacy coins obscure sender, receiver, and transaction amount data by default. MiCA, on the other hand, requires a level of traceability to prevent misuse. Projects must walk a fine line between protecting users and providing enough visibility to meet regulatory thresholds. Salvium addresses this through selective transparency. Users can choose when to reveal transaction details, particularly in situations involving exchanges or audits, while remaining private during peer-to-peer use.
These adaptations demonstrate that compliance is not just a legal exercise—it is a design challenge. Projects must reimagine core systems, ensuring they remain true to their mission while enabling features that meet MiCA’s expectations. The compliance deadline for most aspects of MiCA is July 2026. This gives privacy projects limited time to build, test, and deploy these features, making proactive compliance efforts more important than ever.
Several high-profile crypto-related crimes highlighted the vulnerabilities in the unregulated crypto market, prompting the EU to accelerate MiCA’s development. These cases underscored the need for robust AML/KYC, transaction monitoring, and consumer protection measures, particularly for privacy-focused projects that could be exploited for illicit purposes:
Case: Mt. Gox, a major Bitcoin exchange, collapsed after losing 850,000 BTC (worth ~$450 million at the time) due to hacks and mismanagement. The lack of regulatory oversight left users unprotected, with significant financial losses.
Impact on MiCA: This case exposed the risks of unregulated crypto platforms, emphasizing the need for consumer protection and operational resilience. MiCA’s requirements for CASPs to maintain security standards, business continuity plans, and transparent operations address these vulnerabilities.
Case: Facebook’s proposed stablecoin, Libra (later Diem), raised global concerns about its potential to disrupt financial stability and enable untraceable transactions for illicit purposes due to its massive user base and privacy features.
Impact on MiCA: The Libra project accelerated EU regulatory efforts, as it highlighted the risks of unregulated stablecoins. MiCA introduced stringent rules for stablecoin issuers, including reserve backing, transparency, and AML compliance, to prevent similar threats.
Case: FTX, a major crypto exchange, collapsed due to fraud, mismanagement, and misappropriation of customer funds (~$10 billion). The lack of regulatory oversight allowed unchecked risky practices, eroding trust in the crypto market.
Impact on MiCA: The FTX scandal reinforced the need for MiCA’s consumer protection measures, such as mandatory audits, capital requirements, and whitepaper disclosures. It also highlighted the importance of AML/KYC to prevent fraud, particularly for platforms handling privacy-focused assets.
Case: Privacy coins like Monero have been used in ransomware attacks and dark pool markets (e.g., Silk Road, AlphaBay) due to their anonymity features. For example, the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack involved crypto payments, raising alarms about untraceable transactions.
Impact on MiCA: These cases underscored the need for enhanced transaction monitoring and AML/CFT compliance. MiCA mandates CASPs to monitor wallets and report suspicious activities, directly addressing the risks posed by privacy-focused projects.
Case: OneCoin, a fraudulent crypto project, defrauded investors of ~$4 billion by marketing a fake cryptocurrency. The lack of regulatory oversight allowed the scheme to operate across multiple jurisdictions.
Impact on MiCA: This case highlighted the need for transparency and investor protection. MiCA’s whitepaper requirements and authorization processes for issuers aim to prevent similar scams by ensuring projects are legitimate and accountable.
The clearest example of a privacy-focused crypto project navigating MiCA successfully is Salvium. Launched as a Layer 1 network forked from Monero, Salvium maintains advanced privacy features like stealth addresses and ring signatures. But rather than resisting regulation, Salvium has designed its architecture to accommodate MiCA compliance from the ground up.
One of its standout innovations is the exchange mode. This feature allows exchanges to receive transactions in a manner that supports compliance checks. If needed, the exchange can freeze and return funds, meeting MiCA’s requirement for refundable transactions. It’s a design tailored for KYC-bound platforms, ensuring that user deposits are not only traceable but reversible—without exposing the sender’s full transaction history.
Salvium also uses selective transparency. This allows users to selectively reveal details about their transactions when necessary, such as during audits or interactions with regulated services. It’s a hybrid model, where privacy is the default but compliance is possible when required. This strikes a balance between individual control and regulatory needs.
This strategy aligns with MiCA’s broader timeline. While certain provisions like stablecoin regulations took effect in mid-2024, most crypto-asset compliance requirements go live by July 2026. Projects like Salvium are using this window to refine their legal and technical foundations, ensuring they’ll be ready when enforcement becomes universal.
Beyond Salvium, other projects are beginning to pivot. Many are considering progressive decentralization strategies, where a legal entity launches the platform under MiCA rules, then gradually decentralizes over time. Others are exploring zero-knowledge proof integrations to offer regulatory-friendly proofs of compliance without revealing user data—an emerging field that could reshape the compliance landscape.
The future outlook is cautiously optimistic. While MiCA raises the bar for participation in the EU crypto market, it also signals growing regulatory maturity. Instead of banning privacy outright, the EU is offering a framework for responsible innovation. Projects that adapt early will likely gain first-mover advantages in institutional partnerships and user trust.
Globally, other regions are watching MiCA closely. Its success could influence similar legislation in Asia, the Americas, and beyond. That means the work privacy projects do today will set precedents far beyond Europe. The push for compliance is not just a regional adaptation—it’s a necessary evolution for privacy protocols to remain relevant in a regulated, multi-chain future.
| MiCA Requirement | Privacy Project Response |
|---|---|
| Publish a detailed whitepaper | Projects share only essential information, focusing on tech and risk disclosure |
| Legal entity in the EU | Operate through registered entities with EU-based directors |
| KYC and AML procedures | Integrate optional identity checks via “exchange mode” without full exposure |
| Transparency in operations | Use selective transparency — some data can be revealed if absolutely required |
| Ability to freeze and return transactions | Refundable payments built directly into the chain’s transaction model |
| User protection and reversibility | Salvium’s exchange mode allows exchanges to reverse problematic transactions |
| Market integrity standards | Features like staking and on-chain governance promote long-term ecosystem health |
| Exchange readiness | Designed to meet exchange compliance requirements without compromising core privacy |
Complying with MiCA isn’t a plug-and-play solution, especially for projects rooted in anonymity. These are the most pressing hurdles:
MiCA is rulebook privacy projects must now learn to play by.
While compliance introduces friction, it also opens doors. Projects like Salvium show it’s possible to respect user privacy while adapting to MiCA’s framework. Selective transparency, refundable payments, and legal entity formation are just some of the tools helping teams strike that balance.
What lies ahead is a reshaped crypto landscape, where privacy is no longer a regulatory grey zone but part of a maturing financial system. Those who adapt early won’t just survive — they’ll lead the next phase of innovation across Europe and beyond.
